Reuters reported on Wednesday that dormant cryptocurrency lender Celsius may be interested in buying potential assets of the network, citing a representative from Ripple Labs Inc.
When asked if Ripple was interested in buying Celsius outright, the spokesperson replied that the company is “interested in learning about Celsius and its assets and whether any may be relevant to our business.”
Back in June, the lending platform, which was facing a serious liquidity problem, suspended all customer withdrawals. Celsius then turned its users into creditors when it filed for bankruptcy last month, where it was revealed that the platform owed its customers about $4.7 billion.
Latest court filings to be represented
Ripple made the statement in response to questions from Reuters on court papers presented last week, where Ripple’s lawyers asked to be represented in the proceedings. Earlier this week the bankruptcy court accepted the filing, despite Ripple not being one of Celsius’ significant creditors, the paper notes.
Another Bloomberg report claimed that Wall Street credit traders are giving locked-out users of troubled platforms an opportunity to opt out of a major haircut. Users of Celsius and even Voyager can reportedly sell the rights to their coins at a 75% discount.
“There’s no real visibility into what their accounts will be worth or when distributions may be made, and many creditors want cash right now,” Vladimir Gelisavik, founder of bankruptcy claims broker Cherokee Acquisitions, told the media outlet.
Will Ripple join Celsius in the current legal battle?
Celsius Network, which had more than $11 billion in assets under management as of June 13, is estimated to have about 300,000 users with account balances of at least $100 as of July.
Not to mention that the lender was also hit by another disaster when a list of customer email addresses was stolen by a Customer.io employee. This increased the risk of phishing attacks by malicious third parties, creating trouble for the platform amid the current “extreme market conditions”.
Meanwhile, according to Crunchbase, San Francisco-based Ripple Labs has raised nearly $300 million in 14 rounds since its incorporation, with the privately held company backed by 40 investors. The company also has no major acquisition history, with the most recent investment in Supermojo in July, but has made 25 investments, according to the platform.
According to July data cited by the report, Ripple’s total purchases, totaling sales of its native crypto XRP, stood at $408.9 million in Q2, up from $273.27 million in Q1. Meanwhile, its native XRP asset saw a modest inflow of $200,000 in last week’s Digital Asset Investment Report.
All of this comes as Ripple is part of a lengthy legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations of offering unregistered securities.